Couple discover mysterious 150-pound sculpture buried in their backyard

A couple found a mysterious 150-pound limestone sculpture buried in their backyard, prompting a search to uncover why it was there.

Greg Gatwood was doing work in the backyard of the San Francisco home he shares with his partner Judy Gittelsohn, when he hit what he believed to be a piece of concrete buried in the dirt.

Gatwood used a shovel to try and free the object, before eventually using a pickaxe. It was only when he saw lips and a nose looking back at him that he realized it was really a statue.

It was 150lbs and nearly two feet wide

Gatwood told Fox News that the statue was “like something you see in a movie, almost cinematic” when he pulled it out of the ground and showed it to Gittelsohn. His partner said she was “gobsmacked” by the “enormous find”.

Gittelsohn, as a professional artist herself, researched the sculpture. She believes it dates back to the 1930s, and may be connected to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an American New Deal agency created by Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide income to the unemployed during the depression.

Their home is located near the former San Francisco Art Institute, at which famous sculptor Ralph Stackpole taught for a number of decades. Because the sculpture is also made from inexpensive limestone, Gittelsohn believes it may be connected to one of Stackpole’s students.

The sculpture received much online attention, including one woman who appeared at their door and told them she had previously held an exhibition featuring the Stackpole’s work. In September, the couple will put the sculpture on display at the American Messenger Gallery in the hope that someone recognises it.

For more archeological discoveries, check out our coverage of the Cold War bunker discovered below a medieval castle, or the 2,400-year-old tomb that belonged to ancient pro wrestler.